If you would like to have some demo content on your WordPress website, there are basically three different ways to do so. First, you could just quickly create some (sample) posts, categories, pages, etc. by yourself. Second, you could import demo content in WordPress through XML files and third, you could install a plugin which provides demo content. Let's look at each approach in detail.
- Create sample content by yourself
- Import demo content with XML files
- WordPress plugins for sample content
1 - Create sample content by yourself #
In our opinion creating some demo content by yourself is probably the easiest and cleanest solution. Usually you know best how many posts, categories, pages, etc. you will exactly need for your website to make your layout work as expected. After you quickly have created some dummy content, you can selectively delete or replace it later on with your own real content.
Publishing Posts, Pages, Categories... #
Creating sample posts (Sample Post 1, 2, 3...), sample categories (Category A, B, C...) and sample pages (Home, Archive, Contact...) can be done quickly and only takes a few minutes. If you need dummy text, you could copy and paste a few hundered words of Lorem Ipsum text into your articles.
Uploading featured images #
When it comes to images, most WordPress themes nowadays make use of featured images. In case you haven't uploaded featured images for your posts yet, many WordPress themes usually display image placeholders instead of images on archives or within custom widgets.
If you would like to replace the image placeholders with some real images and in case you don't have suitable images at hand, you could use free images which have been published under a free license for use on your WordPress website: 10 Image Sources For Your WordPress Website Or Blog.
2 - Import demo content with XML files #
Another approach to get demo content on your WordPress website is by importing XML files with sample content. You can import XML files in your WordPress dashboard under Tools => Import and then select WordPress to install the WordPress Importer plugin.
In case you don't have a demo content XML file, you could for example use the WordPress.org theme unit test data which is often also being used by WordPress developers to test the output of their WordPress themes.
Important: Please keep in mind that uploading XML files to your WordPress website usually just results in some sample content, which is helpful in case your website doesn't have content yet. XML files usually won't take care of the full website configuration for you.
If you're using WordPress themes by MH Themes, the front page layout of your website usually is based on widgets and these widgets can't be placed by uploading a regular XML file. To configure your widgetized front page correctly, you can find all necessary information in the theme documentation of your particular WordPress theme.
3 - WordPress plugins for sample content #
While doing some research, we have only found very few plugins in the official WordPress plugin directory which provide demo content for your website, e.g. FakerPress or WP Example Content. Before using plugins for demo content, make sure that you know exactly what the particular plugin can and can't do. You should also check if the plugin is supported accordingly, compatible with your current WordPress version and well rated - before you install and use it on your website.
Conclusion: Choosing the best approach for demo content #
As you've learned in this article, there basically are 3 ways to add demo content to your WordPress website. Which option you choose is up to you and always depends on your personal requirements and your experience in creating WordPress websites. Creating your own (sample) content can be done easily straight away, but might take a little effort.
Importing demo content through XML files usually is a quicker approach, however you should make sure you know exactly what is being imported to your website to prevent gathering needless content. The third solution would be the plugin approach, but as already mentioned, here you should be cautious and aware of the plugin functionality, otherwise you might experience unexpected issues or even loss of data when you delete content through the particular plugin.
In general the best approach really depends on the nature of the website you're running. While importing demo content for a business website with less content makes sense, it usually doesn't make much sense to import dozens of demo posts for a magazine website because you need to replace or delete all the content afterwards which can be a waste of time. In that case usually it would be better to simply start creating your own content to take your website to the next level.